eng4u1fandomcom-20200214-history
Raisin in the Sun
Raisin in the Sun is a play by written Lorraine Hansberry. The play is based on the life of a black family living on the south side of Chicago during the 1950's, having to strugle with racism and economic hardship. The title of A Raisin in the Sun is a line from Langston Hughe's poem "Harlem: A Dream Deferred." Plot A Raisin in the Sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers. In the begining of the play the Youngers are about to receive a check for $10 000. This check is coming because Mr. Younger had a life insurace policy for when he passed away. Every member of the family has something that they wish to use the money on. Mama wants to use the money to buy a house and so does Ruth, Walters wife. They want this house to llive a better life and to have more room for Ruth to raise her son. Walter who is Mama's son wants to invest in a liquor store with 2 of his freinds. He believes that this will not only solve his families financial trouble but will also let him live the dream life. Beneath, Walter’s sister and Mama’s daughter want to use the money to pay for her medical school tuition. Characters 'Walter Lee Younger' Walter is the protagonist. He dreams big and wants to live big by investing in a liquor store. He sees this as the solution to his families problems. He wants to live in a big house, provide for his son and other children he may have as well as fulfilling many other things that he dreams about. 'Lena Younger (Mama)' Mama is the mother to Walter and Benetha. She is religious, moral, and cares for her family. She doesn't want Walter to be part of the liquor store because see shes it as wrong. She instead wants to buy a house for the family and move up in the world. 'Beneatha Younger' Beneatha is Walter's sister and Lena's daughter. She attends college and is the most educated Younger. She wants to be a doctor. Beneatha sees the world differently from her conservative mother and is searching for her identity. 'Ruth Younger' Ruth is Walters wife. She stays home and takes care of it. Her marrige has some problems and feels as though she can't give Walter what he needs. She is also has a son with Walter that she takes care of and later on in the novel we find out that she is pregnant. 'Travis Younger' Son of Walter and Ruth. He is sheltered from most of the families problems but still has to live in the poverty. He sleeps in the living room and carries groceries for money. 'Mr. Karl Lindner' Karl Lindner is the only white charcter in the play. He is the antangonsit of the play also. He is part of the Clybourne Park Improvment Association and he basicaly tell the Younger that they are not welcome in the neighbourhood and that the Clybourne Park Improvment Association will buy the house back from them. Theme In A Raisin in the Sun, pride overules money as the most important factor in the characters decisions. In A Raisin in the Sun every character makes choices without consulting the family that are ultimately choices between money and pride. The first instance we see this is when Ruth decides to go see the female doctor who performs abortions. Ruth decides to go through with this even putting down a $5 deposit. This comes as a shock to the family when mama tells Walter that she is thinking of getting rid of the baby. He is in complete disbelief saying “You don’t know Ruth, Mama, if you think she would do that.” (Hansberry 1.2.236) Ruth has made this decision on her own. This is clearly a difficult choice for Ruth but she chooses to go through with it because she feels that it is a sacrifice that needs to be made for her family. The Youngers are in a very tight spot financially. Their current apartment has Travis sleeping in the living room on the couch. Another child would be a lot to deal with. Beneatha voices her concerns about this when she says “It is my business--where is he going to live, on the roof?” (Hansberry 1.2.54) This decision is done for her family because of their current financial situation. In this choice Ruth has chosen money with very big regrets because she knows that now they cannot afford another child. Another instance of these choices between money and pride is when Mama goes out to buy a house for the Youngers. Mama also does this behind the backs of everyone in the family. Everyone in the family is happy about this decision except Walter. Travis says “Yeah—I always wanted to live in a house.” (Hansberry 2.1.157) Ruth is very excited about the house but later has doubts because of its location in Clybourne Park. Walter is upset with this decision. He wanted to use the money for his liquor store endeavour with Bobo and Willy. Walter says, “So you butchered up a dream of mine – you – who always talking ‘bout your children’s dreams…” (Hansberry 2.1.187) Although Walter tells his mom this, Lena feels bad for him but stands up for her right to use the money the best way she saw fit, even though now she feels that not giving Walter any money was a mistake. She feels that she has made the right choice for her family. Lena just saw her family falling apart and she needed to change something to get her family back on track, even if she knew that she would disappoint her son doing it. She knows her choice is be a hard one, but still she felt it was the best thing to do. This choice wasn’t made for the money; Mama has pride in her decision knowing that she is helping in bring the family together and that her family will live in better conditions. Beneatha faces a choice of money and pride with the two people that she is seeing. Asagai is a Nigerian student in love with her. Asagai is very proud of his African heritage, and Beneatha embraces her African heritage because of him. He also proposes to her and wants her to come to Nigeria with him. George is a wealthy African-American man who is into Beneatha. Beneatha dislikes him because doesn’t embrace his heritage and is shallow. The rest of the Youngers approve of George and want Beneatha to go for him because of his wealth. Beneatha on the other hand doesn’t particularly like George that much and prefers Asagai. She is faced with a choice between going for someone that can help her financially and someone who she enjoys and would make her happy. In this case Beneatha clearly makes the choice for pride. Even though that money will be useful for her she goes with Asagai who she can relate to and doesn’t she him as a fool. The final place that a decision is made about pride over money is in the final scene of the novel where Walter confronts Lindner. Walter after having lost the money to Willy is in a tough situation. He lost not only his $3500 but also Beneatha’s money. This is money that could have made a huge difference in their lives. Walter is going to try to fix the situation by calling Lindner over and accepting an offer for the white community to buy back the house. Walter says, “Don’t cry, mama. Understand. That white man is going to walk in that door able to write checks for more money than we ever had. It’s important to him and I’m going to help him…I’m going to put on the show, Mama.” (Hansberry 3.1.96) Walter doesn’t care about his pride in this scene because he was going to play by Lindner’s rules in order to get the most money out of this. Walter sees selling himself out as the only way to get his father’s money back. As Walter is going to make a deal with Lindner he tells Travis to leave but Mama tells him to stay and to learn from his father. After this Walter says, “And we have decided to move into our house because my father – my father – he earned it for us brick by brick We don’t want to make no trouble for nobody or fight no causes, and we will try to be good neighbors. And that’s all we got to say about that. We don’t want your money.” (Hansberry 3.1.133) Walter in the end makes the choice of pride over money. His choice is not motivated as a racial statement but a family statement about wanting to create a home. Walter keeps his dignity by refusing Lindner’s offer. Hansberry message about the issue is clear at the end of the play where principle overcomes money. Throughout the play the characters struggled with this issue. They want to choose their pride and principle but know that money is also an important especially considering their state. Ruth chooses the abortion for monetary reasons, Mama choses to buy the house for her principle, Beneatha chooses Asagai over George because she doesn`t like George even though he has money and at the end Walter choose his dignity over the money even though up until the end he was going to take the money.